"Working under the direction of Areel, for me, he is a calm director, but has the spirit of a Malay warrior who never gives up." - Namron (actor, director, NYAFF 2018 guest)

While Geran is Areel Abu Bakar’s directorial debut, he has been a cinematographer for nearly a decade. Bakar had the idea for the film about five years ago, three of which were spent raising funds. He wrote the original story and shot it himself. Although action films are very popular in Malaysia, they rarely focus on the traditional local martial arts, which is precisely what inspired Bakar to make something different. With a cast chock full of real-life silat exponents - and equal opportunity for women and children asskickers as well - the film achieves levels of authenticity and inclusion seldom seen in Malaysian cinema. Blending social relevance into his novel story and approach, the 34-year-old director has already proven himself a maverick on the rise.

Arvin Chen is a writer and director best known for his film Au Revoir Taipei, the 2010 romantic comedy that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was executive produced by Wim Wenders, and its follow-up Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? He is currently in pre-production on his third Taiwanese feature, Mama Boy, and his first US feature, Ellie in Wonderland, for Imagine Entertainment.

Layla Zhuqing Ji was born and raised in China and graduated from Columbia University’s MFA Film program. A trilingual filmmaker, Layla directed award-winning shorts that played festivals across the world including Busan International Short Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival. Ji shot her debut feature Victim(s) in Malaysia. She lives between Los Angeles and China and is currently developing her next film, which will be produced in her homeland.

Kristen Yoonsoo Kim is a South Korea-born, New York-based film critic and culture writer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, GQ, The Nation, Pitchfork, and elsewhere.

Lee Joo-young made her screen debut in the short independent film Encounter (2012). She spent the next few years acting in multiple independent films before earning critical acclaim for her role in A Quiet Dream (2016; NYAFF 2017 selection/US Premiere) directed by Zhang Lu, who she had met at the 2013 Busan Peace Film Festival when one of her films was showing. That same year, she expanded her career into television alongside Irene, member of a popular K-pop girl group Red Velvet, in web drama Game Development Girls, which led to her breakthrough role in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo. After garnering critics’ praise with her role in Jane (2016; NYAFF 2017 selection/North American Premiere), she was awarded the Actress of the Year Award at the 2018 Busan International Film Festival for her performance in Maggie (2018; NYAFF 2019 selection/North American Premiere) then the Special Short Drama Actress Award at the 2019 KBS Drama Awards for Home Sweet Home (2019). Lee continued to rise to fame as she appeared in JTBC’s Itaewon Class (2020) which ended as the seventh highest rated drama in Korean cable television history and a runaway hit internationally thanks to a high profile NetFlix run, where it can still be seen. Lee last appeared in Choi Yun-Tae’s Baseball Girl (2019) where she plays the leading character.

Liao Ming-yi graduated from the prestigious National Taiwan University of the Arts. Since then he has worked as an assistant director on several feature films including You Are the Apple of My Eye (NYAFF 2012), which he also edited, and has directed several short films. After accidentally discovering the surprising flexibility of shooting on an iPhone he decided to film iWeirdo this way. Why this title? Liao says, “Because I am one of them. Everyone has their own paranoia… Love is also part of that paranoia. I want to describe the promise of love through this story.”

Bao Nguyen is an award-winning Vietnamese American filmmaker whose past work has been seen in The New York Times, HBO, NBC, Vice, ARTE and PBS, among many others. The director of documentaries Live From New York!, celebrating 40 years of Saturday Night Live, and Be Water, about cultural icon Bruce Lee, his films have been invited to many prestigious film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Telluride and Hong Kong.

Emerging director Odagiri Joe is best known as an internationally acclaimed actor. Despite an early dream to direct, his success in front of the camera intervened, and his own modesty sidelined him from his intended profession. “I felt I would be taking advantage of my position if I directed a film,” he has said. “I didn’t think other directors would take kindly to it, and I thought audiences would look at it through the filter of ‘presenting a film by actor Odagiri Joe.’”

In the spotlight since his starring role in Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Bright Future in 2003, Odagiri has amassed an extraordinary filmography, working primarily with indie auteurs rather than big-studio directors, and creating a range of unforgettable characters, each one distinct from the last. Active overseas since 2006, he has also gamely performed in English, French, Korean and Spanish. Among many other awards, he has received Best Supporting Actor at the Japanese Academy prizes for Blood and Bones in 2004, and Best Actor for Sway in 2006.

As our Centerpiece presentation, NYAFF is proud to host the U.S. premiere of Odagiri’s masterful feature debut as writer-director, They Say Nothing Stays the Same. Lensed by iconic DP Christopher Doyle, with costumes by Oscar winner Wada Emi, and starring many of Japan’s most beloved actors, the film marks the launch of what will most assuredly be (another) brilliant career for Odagiri Joe.

Yoon Dan-bi’s short film Fireworks screened at the Daegu Independent Short Film Festival in 2015 and the Korea Youth Film Festival in 2017. Her feature debut Moving On premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, where it won four awards. Yoon explains her inspiration for this quietly mesmerizing film: “On the way back home after school, one of my friends started telling us a story about her family. Other friends joined the conversation, sharing problems they each had within their families. While hearing their stories, I felt a sense of relief, which assured me that it wasn’t just my family that had issues. Feeling relieved, however, I failed to tell my own story. I’m dedicating this film, ten years later, as the response to the unanswered question that evening.”

A veteran director of commercials and music videos, Yuen Kim Wai’s debut feature Heaven In The Dark (2016) was nominated for the FIPRESCI Award at the prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival. His second feature, the chilling suspense thriller Legally Declared Dead, features exceptional performances from veteran actor Anthony Wong and Golden Horse award winner (also the director’s spouse) Karena Lam.